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Six GPs receive New Year Honours

Six GPs have received New Year Honours for their services to healthcare.

Dr Azhar Farooqi, a GP in East Leicester and member of the NHS Alliance, received an OBE.

Dr Ken Aswani, a GP in Waltham Forest, Essex, Dr Iftikhar Ahmed Lone, a GP in Middlesbrough, Dr Fiona Ford, from Southport, Merseyside, and Dr William Jones, a GP in Cambridge, received MBEs.

Dr Farooqi was 'very surprised' when he found out. He believed his award was recognition of his work in diabetes care.

Dr Farooqi was a member of the diabetes National Service Framework expert reference group, is on the steering committee of the Primary Care Diabetes Society and has been

heavily involved in reorganising diabetes services in Leicestershire.

He said: 'It's good recognition that general practice does contribute to society – we've had a lot of negative press recently, particularly about big pay rises.'

Dr Aswani is the national professional executive committee chair for the NHS Alliance. He said receiving an MBE was a 'great honour'.

He said: 'I'm somebody who thinks GPs are of value, I think there is a wider appreciation of what we do.'

Dr Iftikhar Ahmed Lone has been a GP for 27 years and is the longest-serving member of Cleveland LMC. He is also a medical adviser at Middlesbrough PCT, a magistrate and a governor at the University of Teeside.

'People ask me if I am as enthusiastic about medicine as when I started – I still enjoy general practice,' he said. 'It's one of the best careers in medicine.'